Preventive Maintenance

Preventive maintenance is a systematic way of checking and repairing a asset, equipment, machine or vehicle. Asset life can be significantly extended by simply tightening screws, cleaning, lubricating and replacing parts that show wear. Most of the equipment manufacturers design a specific preventive maintenance checklists for maintenance professionals to follow when they take the equipment down for maintenance.

Preventive maintenance is usually outlined in instruction manual or maintenance checklist. In most of the preventive maintenance checklist the first step would be cleaning the exterior and interior of a equipment. Cleaning, lubricating and tightening are the three important steps in any preventive maintenance checklist.

Preventive maintenance ensures machines, equipments, assets and vehicles are kept in proper working condition. A major, expensive repair can be avoided by carrying out preventive maintenance activities at scheduled time intervals. Scheduling preventive maintenance will be easier when you have a cmms software implemented.

Implement a cmms software to keep track of preventive maintenance schedules for every machine, asset, equipment and vehicle. You can also prevent missing any preventive maintenance activity by uploading and maintaining the preventive maintenance checklists in CMMS software.

Plant Maintenance and CMMS Software

Plant maintenance refers to strategies, methods, checklists and practices used to keep industrial plants running effectively and efficiently. Starting from regular checks of equipment or assets to make sure they are functioning properly, to cleaning floors, rooms, walls, restrooms etc. The general aim of plant maintenance is to create a productive working environment that is also safe for its workers.

Not all factories and plants are same, each plant is unique and the ways to maintain these facilities and plants often vary. For example, a assembly unit will have different machinery than a chilling unit. Meaning every unit generally has its own maintenance plan, tailored to its priorities and particularities. A maintenance plan should include scheduling times (preventive maintenance) for equipment, asset checkups and general clean-up.

Most plants employ their own maintenance staff. This can include workers such as on-site engineers, whose job is to make sure that machines continue to operate effectively without any downtime. Downtime of key equipment will result in stoppage of the line which can be financially damaging.

Preventive maintenance is a crucial aspect to make sure a plant runs efficiently. Periodic checking of machines to see if it is operating correctly is one commonly used preventive measure. This can prevent machines, equipments from breaking down and also help to anticipate a possible problem.To ensure safe and clean work place its not only maintaining the machines and equipments but also the floors, walls, restrooms, cafe etc. Cleaning and clearing wastes will make it a better place to work.

With so many critical maintenance work items which determines the plant output. One critical maintenance activity missed might bring the whole plant down, so its always good to have a cmms software to manage the schedule and keep track of each and every maintenance activity. A well implemented cmms software for a plant will result in improved productivity gains.

Role of CMMS Software

In general the role of Computer Maintenance Management Software (CMMS ) encompasses the entire maintenance spectrum helping maintenance and facility managers across the organisation to take effective control of facilities, assets, equipments and maintenance operations and lower the total cost of maintenance.

Main challenge of today’s businesses is do more with less. The only way to acheive this is through better work processes, skilled employees and enabling technology. CMMS software is one tool that can genuinely enable your organization to meet the goals.

10 to 30% reduction in maintenance related expenditures is acheived/claimed by organizations that successfully implement CMMS software and its supporting processes. Factor in, the lost opportunity due to equipment or asset failures and the potential liability of safety related failures, it is plain to see the value behind even a large scale CMMS software implementations.